Episode 1425 (20 March 1997)
Synopsis: Sarah is lying on the sofa, and Robbie is half dressed. Since she has shut up her babbling, Robbie asks her how she is and apologises if it wasn't what she expected, but he hasn't done it much himself. He says it'll be better next time - if there is a next time of course, but he hopes they can go out together, to the cinema perhaps? She is silently sulking and Robbie goes over to see if he can get some sort of reaction. Sarah suddenly tells him she never wants to see him again and she hates him and he should get lost. He's really upset and says it wasn't his idea, that was what she wanted, and he would have been happy whatever... and she screams "don't you understand English? get out!" Ricky has given up searching for the £3,000 and goes to see if Phil is at home, arriving only minutes after Robbie has left. He bangs on the door until Ben wakes up and Sarah can't ignore it any longer, so she jumps up and kicks her pair of discarded knickers under the sofa. Ricky comes in despite Sarah's unfriendly comment that Phil isn't here and he's woken the baby. Ricky is desperate to find Phil so persists, and then realises that Sarah is not just annoyed about Ben but deeply upset about something else. He keeps on that he's her friend and she can tell him why she's upset - and he makes her a coffee to cheer her up. When she's silent, he tells her he's had a bad day too, he's lost £3,000 and it looks like Phil's run off with it on a bender. Meanwhile, at the Vic, Kathy is wondering where Phil is, and Peggy is delaying the birthday celebrations until he appears. Bianca is waiting for Ricky, and asks Tony if he's seen him. Peggy gloats about her being stood up and tells her that "working late" is the oldest lie in the book, thus sowing the seeds of doubt in Bianca's mind. So, she goes to the Arches to apologise for being rude last time she saw him, but he's not there. She goes home and when he's not there either she is worried. Tony and Simon get drinks and Grant takes the opportunity to taunt Tony about not having a job or being able to support a kid, and he is a sad loser. Tony refuses to be intimidated even though Simon wants to leave. They stay for another drink and then go to Lenny's party. Bianca goes to Huw and Lenny's party, which is just getting going. Lenny is pleased that she's arrived without Ricky and tries to get her to eat some cake. Ian turns up to ask them to turn it down, and notices someone in the corner smoking a joint. He immediately goes home and calls the police telling them about the disturbance and that he knows there are drugs there. He later goes round to Carol's to ask her to phone the police to complain too, to give it more weight. She says Alan lives there, and Ian says all the more reason I thought you would do it. Alan appears behind Ian and asks if someone's talking about him. Ian goes and Carol asks what he wants. He says Frankie dumped him, and Carol says it's none of her business. She slams the door in Alan's face and he goes and sits in the square miserably. She's also worried about Robbie who seems to have been crying and has given up his shift for tonight and goes up to his room to hide, but he won't tell her what is wrong. Ricky is not having much luck with Sarah - she's started to talk and goes on about how much she's always wanted to kill herself but hasn't got the bottle, and she admires people who can. Ricky says she has people who care about her - her family, and him. He hands her the coffee and offers her his handkerchief, putting it in her hand. When it touches her, she jumps up in panic and screams and attacks him violently, knocking him backwards and over the table, breaking the lamp. She screams at him to get out and scratches his face before he scrambles out of there! She continues screaming as he opens the door and Alan hears the commotion and sees Ricky leave under the rain of blows. Alan goes into the Vic to have a word with Kathy, and she goes home. Sarah panics and says she's sorry she will pay for any damage, and runs out. Kathy is concerned, and even more so when she tidies up and finds Sarah's knickers and tights. She calls Ted, and half explains that Sarah has gone running off and she's worried about her, and she hesitates before deciding not to show him the knickers. He says he'll ring around her friends, and calls Alistair first, but only gets the machine. Ricky finally goes to the Vic to face Bianca, hiding his cheek very suspiciously. She's more concerned about the lack of the £3,000 than anything else, until Kathy appears and wants a word with Ricky. Sarah yet again goes to Alistair's house and asks him if he's alone, before going in. She tells him she's slept with Robbie Jackson. The phone rings but Alistair ignores it. Alistair goes into "fire and brimstone" mode and tells her that she had better pray long and hard for forgiveness, and hope that God is very merciful, or else the consequences are too dreadful to contemplate, and she will be damned. Sarah is terrified, and says she came for reassurance and sympathy, and she wants a bath. Alistair says coldly that a bath will not wash away the sin. She says that he nearly did this with Sue, they were intending to do so, so what is the difference. Alistair says that the difference is they didn't do it, so they were saved from sin. Sarah says that she turned up and interrupted them and saved them, why couldn't someone have saved her? Alistair says simply perhaps her faith wasn't strong enough. She says that's not fair and leaves in tears. The police arrive at the party just as Lenny is eating the last slice of cake. As the police threaten to break down the door they stuff themselves with the remnants. The policeman picks up the crumbs and sniffs/tastes it, and arrests Huw and Lenny. As they struggle, the policeman says they'd better not be resisting arrest. While Kathy has her "private" word with Ricky, Bianca goes to the bar, and Peggy tells her a whole tissue of fabrication about what she thinks Ricky has been up to and that it's obvious when Sarah is not the kind of girl to scratch a man's face for no reason, and after what he did to her Sam she has never trusted him - he puts on that stupid look, but there's more to it than meets the eye. Ricky tells Kathy that he doesn't know why Sarah was upset, she was already upset when he arrived looking for Phil and she just went mad. And he is far more concerned about finding Phil. Kathy isn't impressed by this story, and ignores the question of where Phil is. Meanwhile George has brought a huge cake in and gets ready to dim the lights. Bianca returns from Peggy's character assassination of Ricky's and insists he tell her why he lied to her about where he had been, and he was with Sarah, and obviously he likes them young. She screams that she wouldn't marry him if he was the last man on earth just as the lights go out and everyone goes silent to sing Happy Birthday. Everyone turns to look at her as she flounces out of the Vic yelling "what are you lot looking at?! Cast: *'Ricky Butcher - Sid Owen' *'Bianca Jackson - Patsy Palmer' *'Sarah Hills - Daniela Denby-Ashe' *'Robbie Jackson - Dean Gaffney' *'Kathy Mitchell - Gillian Taylforth' *'Ted Hills - Brian Croucher' *'Peggy Mitchell - Barbara Windsor' *'George Palmer - Paul Moriarty' *'Grant Mitchell - Ross Kemp' *'Carol Jackson - Lindsey Coulson' *'Alan Jackson - Howard Antony' *'Ian Beale - Adam Woodyatt' *'Sanjay Kapoor - Deepak Verma' *'Gita Kapoor - Shobu Kapoor' *'Tony Hills - Mark Homer' *'Simon Raymond - Andrew Lynford' *'Alistair Matthews - Neil Clark' *'Huw Edwards - Richard Elis' *'Lenny Wallace - Desune Coleman' *'Police Sergeant - Ray Burnside ' Category:Episode Category:1997 Episodes